LISTS!

We've all stumbled through top 10 lists/countdowns and many a time found something new and interesting along the way. With Sight & Sound compiling their Greatest Films list, one has to wonder what modern times remember most vividly and what precious space is taken by new films. In fact, take a look at IMDb revised list. Stunning that The Passion of Joan of Arc can be thrown aside to make room for Tim Burton's Big Fish! Though let's face it IMDb is a metacritic and any old Jimbo can log on there. Though do read this article here (the main point of this post) to grasp this obsession with listing and what background information each list may hold (note: the new poll includes links where to ever-so-easily watch each film...(but then again watching films on a laptop just isn't cinema is it?))

Compiling a body of work that exceeds a lifetime into a hierarchy should be an impossibility. Film reflects society, technology, trends, culture, fashion, etc, etc. Put simply, film is a sign of the times, moments recorded in short succession and arranged into a product. I would like to imagine like many good things, you truly had to be there to fully appreciate it. For instance sitting in Newcastle watching and reading about Dogme films last year meant nothing to actually being in Copenhagen upon the release of the first Dogme film, Festen in 1998. Consider now how their trademark shaky handheld formats seem to have since been handed over to being another cliche of the horror genre...

Nathan